Ronan O’Gara reveals ‘stress’ of coaching has led to health issues

The Munster and Ireland legend has been head coach of French side La Rochelle for five years.

The former fly-half became head coach of Top 14 club La Rochelle in 2019, after spending two years in New Zealand as an assistant backs coach at Crusaders.

The Corkman's time in France has been largely successful.

He led La Rochelle to their first major silverware when they defeated Leinster 24–21 in the 2022 Champions Cup final, successfully retaining the title the following year.

O'Gara has been no stranger to controversy on the touchline.

In September 2022, the 47-year-old was banned for six weeks for disrespecting a match official after La Rochelle's fixture against Lyon in September 2022, and he faced another LNR disciplinary hearing in November 2022 after being cited for alleged comments made towards a match official.

He was subsequently banned for ten weeks and fined €20,000 for that incident.

Although he now appears to deal with the pains and pressure of the job a lot better compared to when he first started, O'Gara admits he still has issues with stress.

Speaking on an episode of Off The Ball, he revealed: "I’d an eye infection there and asked the doctor, 'What’s this about?'.

"I was hoping there wasn’t serious growth of something in my eye that was associated with the brain.

"Because when you’re involved in top-level sport you’re going 'Oh no I could be badly sick for a while here!'"

He continued: "So can we just eliminate anything serious doc please. So I asked 'How would I have gotten that?'.

"And he said, ‘Well you can get it through the air’. So I go 'The air? But I eat well and I sleep well.'

"But the doctor then went ‘Yeah but I can tell you’re shouting a lot at the minute' […] It was like popping an eye vessel you know?’"

Earlier this week, O'Gara rubbished the controversial ’20-minute red card’ rule that is set to be trialled during the Autumn Nations Series next month.

“My thoughts would be strong – a 20-minute red card would be nonsense," he said. "I don’t see where it fits in the game.

"We’re always trying to learn how to make the game better. A red card is a serious act of foul play. If it’s a serious act of foul play, there’s no place in the game for 20-minute [red card] – it’s quite simple.

"The criteria and process around a red card is quite strict nowadays – strict isn’t the right word to use as there’s a difference on opinion on nearly every single rule in the game of rugby. A 20-minute red card makes it so we could be re-entering dangerous territory again."